Translating Film (dubs and subs) Discussion

[Cijj]

Seems like I got to see it, too.
But I promise you one thing:
German synchronization (I dont know if this is the right word, I wanted to say: when it is translated into german and spoken by german speakers) can ruin the best movies. Really.

Seems kind of impossible, but after comparing original and german version of some movies, I came, along with others, to this conclusion.
So I pray that they did a good job.

[Zannon]

Seems like I got to see it, too.
But I promise you one thing:
German synchronization (I dont know if this is the right word, I wanted to say: when it is translated into german and spoken by german speakers) can ruin the best movies. Really.

Seems kind of impossible, but after comparing original and german version of some movies, I came, along with others, to this conclusion.
So I pray that they did a good job.

Actually it goes both ways. I'm a WWII buff and am a big fan of German films about WWII, but you can never watch them dubbed into English. The translation ends up being a horrid mess. A great example of this is the movie Stalingrad, for the longest time, I could only get a dubbed copy of the movie. When it came out on DVD, I got to watch it subtitled for the first time...to my suprise, there was a scene at the beginning of it that I always thought was supposed to be funny. As it turns out, it was just a really bad translation and it was actually about a soldier that was bashed in the head and got brain damage.

So, in short, I guess I'm saying that I know what you mean.

[Kyanus]

Seems like I got to see it, too.
But I promise you one thing:
German synchronization (I dont know if this is the right word, I wanted to say: when it is translated into german and spoken by german speakers) can ruin the best movies. Really.

I've noticed this as well watching American movies dubbed into French and vice versa. I think it's just impossible for a movie to be dubbed and retain all of the subtleties that can only be conveyed in the script's native language.

In other words, dubbed films are bad, mmmkay?

[Seret Sajet]

Same goes for us whacky anime fans. Subtitles beat Dubbing any day due to several factors. A few are:

- Voice Actors add their own inflection and characteristics without the benefit of the original writer and director showing them how it should be.

- Any language is spoken differently in terms of speed and volume. Therefore while a sentence may take 15 seconds to say in Japanese it may take only 8 seconds to say in English. Often voice actors fill in that empty space with extras that generally end up being pointless and silly.

- In a lot of cases dubbing (and subtitles too) rely on direct translation of the words instead of what they really mean. In the most extreme cases you get poor English but in minor ways through most films you lose some meaning and purpose. The English dub might have an actress saying "I love you with a lot of heart" but what she really said is "I love you with all my heart." Minor but very different. Apply this several time throughout a film and you lose a lot of what its trying to say.

Thats just what I noticed in foreign film but a lot of it does ring true. In the end, stick with subtitles and NEVER get anything that is translated to English by folks from Korea unless you want a good laugh.

(Note: splitting this topic since we're going in a different direction now)

[Kyanus]

At the same time, sometimes dubbing can unintentionally make movies very funny. Just look at the plethora of hong Kong action films that have gained noteriety due to their bad dubbing. While they take away from the actual movie, they can really make for some funny cult classics.